Winners from Tenth Annual Nature Art Showcase Announced

Attendees at the Tenth Annual Nature Art Showcase and Sale cast ballots for the “People’s Choice” awards while they viewed more than 110 original art items submitted by 62 artists and displayed in the main lobby of the Barrow-Civic Theatre in downtown Franklin during the Franklin On Ice festival. This free exhibit of original artwork made using diverse techniques features depictions of outdoor recreation and natural resources of northwestern Pennsylvania. This year’s prizes were made and donated by fellow artists participating in this annual free-admission two-day event.

The Council on Greenways and Trails (CGT) and Penn Soil Resource Conservation & Development Council invited arriving guests to select their respective favorites in the Two-Dimensional, Three-Dimensional, On The Wing, and Youth categories. “On The Wing” was an optional theme this year covering the bases from winged insects, many species of birds, bats, and flying leaves.

Photo by Jesse Wolfgang standing beside the 8’ tall paint “Transcendence".

Receiving the highest number of votes in the Two-Dimensional category is a spray painting prepared by Jesse Wolfgang of Warren, PA in Warren County. His painting is entitled “Transcendence.” Mr. Wolfgang strives to use recycled and repurposed materials to create artwork capturing motion, experience, and links with nature. He received a framed photograph of a Red-Spotted Purple Butterfly provided by Kirby Neubert of Seneca, PA.

Mary Rose Ragon holding 3-D prize-winning “Whimsical Woodland Wonder”

Mary Rose Ragon of Franklin, PA assembled her “Whimsical Woodland Wonder” in a three-dimensional scene utilizing miniature natural materials found near her home. This item received the highest number of ballots in the 3-D category. Her prize is a stained-glass original work called “Honeycomb Corner” made by Barb Makohus of Centerville.

Heide Wirtner standing to the left of the ‘On the Wing’ category winner at the Nature Art Showcase. The painting is entitled “The Hunter & The Taken”

In the “On The Wing” category reflecting this year’s optional theme, attendees selected “The Hunter and The Taken,” a colorful vertical panel with overlaid painted images of a bald eagle and other predator animals as well as their respective prey. Heidi Wirtner of Emlenton, PA conceptualized this panel, along with its counterpart entitled “The Hunter and the Hunted.” Lisa Hulihan of Franklin, PA furnished the prize, a wooden keepsake box with a photograph of a bald eagle inserted as the box lid.

Cooper Greenlee holding his prize-winning pencil drawing entitled “Childhood in Nature.”

Thirteen-year-old seventh grader Cooper Greenlee of Polk, PA entered a pencil drawing of “Childhood in Nature,” which earned the highest tally among the youth (ages 12-18) category in the People’s Choice Awards this year. His prize, customized by Victorian City Art & Frame in Franklin, is a wide wood frame with a mat cut out in train shapes.

This free public event was jointly coordinated by two area non-profit organizations – Penn Soil Resource Conservation and Development Council based in Warren, PA serving eight counties in northwestern Pennsylvania, and the Council on Greenways and Trails based in Oil City, PA focusing on Clarion, Crawford, and Venango Counties.

For additional images from the Tenth Annual Nature Art Showcase and Sale, see www.councilongreenwaystrails.org.